Whenever I go to a bookstore and I walk by the Christian Fiction section I always see cheesy Amish love stories or fifty of Janette Oke’s romance bookWhenever I go to a bookstore and I walk by the Christian Fiction section I always see cheesy Amish love stories or fifty of Janette Oke’s romance books so, obviously, I never peruse the shelves unless it’s Frank Peretti, or the Left Behind series. Actual good Christian fiction is rare and it makes me sad. So when I saw the author on Instagram and read a small synopsis of his book I wanted to read it, knowing it was about spiritual warfare like This Present Darkness. I got a free eBook in exchange for an honest review. Sooooo here it is.
The writing was fast paced, cheesy in some areas, but overall a relaxing and enjoyable read. Woodruff is a veteran so I knew the battle tactics were spot on and many of the character’s experiences were from Woodruff’s own experiences being in the military. I liked how the story slowly evolved and didn’t dump a ton of information all at once and expect you to figure it out. The main character suffers from memory loss so I didn’t know his name until a ways in, which I thought was interesting because I really wanted to know more about this character, and it kept me reading. I really enjoyed the story overall but a few things confused me.
First, the main character has a mark on his forehead with the numbers 666. According to the Bible this is the brand of Satan. In the end times people will have the option to take the mark (in order to buy or sell anything) or not take it and go without. The Bible is explicit about not taking it, but in the book it is mentioned once. Lucian looks at it in the mirror with shame but goes to bed and that’s that. It isn’t taken off or anything. So Lucian is running around the desert killing demons with the mark of the beast on his forehead…
Secondly, I didn’t know which characters were angels or human. There was no distinction between the two. Octavian, who was Lucian’s angel, looked like a lumberjack. Zypher, which means west wind, wasn’t an angel at all but the squad’s leader. It wasn’t until about fifty pages in I realized he was human. There needed to be something that set them apart. Since the angels didn’t have the massive eagles wings it could have been Latin names, or something about their looks, a white aura, etc. to set them apart.
Lastly, there wasn’t a lot of world building. I knew most of the world was scorched and that was it. There were a few sentences about what happened but I would have liked to know more about the events leading up to the mark of the beast, the scorching, how Lucian lost his memory, etc. One shot sentences aren’t enough for the reader to get a full sense of the world.
The way Woodruff got the name for the title of the book was very interesting. I love the title even more after having read that blog post. I also loved how the chapter numbers were decorated.
Overall, I love the idea of this story. It was well thought out and I wanted to read until the very end. It was only those few things mentioned that confused me about the story. The ending was one of the biggest cliffhangers I think I’ve read this year. I wonder what happens next. I hope we get to know more about Lucian’s past, what happened to the world before the story took place, and what Lucian does with the 666 on his forehead.
Thank you Luke for letting me read your book and I look forward to reading the next one....more
I love the New King James Version. It's my favorite translation. It is basically the King James Version without all the "thees" "thous" etc. I have a I love the New King James Version. It's my favorite translation. It is basically the King James Version without all the "thees" "thous" etc. I have a thing for staying true to the original text as possible. Of course I can't read Greek or Hebrew so this is the best I can do.
This is my first study Bible and I love it. It took me an entire year to read through my old NKJV Bible and I loved digging deeper with this one. I love the study notes below the text and the brief descriptions of each chapter and biography of Bible characters throughout. I loved reading what was happening in the world at the time each chapter was written, and by whom it was written.
I don't think I've highlighted, underlined, or wrote so much in my life while reading through it. I have several composition notebooks filled with notes I took from this study Bible. If you want to dig deeper into the Word of God, this is the Bible for you!
My church youth group was asked to read this book. It seemed appropriate at the time since we were a group of 18 teenagers who hung out together everyMy church youth group was asked to read this book. It seemed appropriate at the time since we were a group of 18 teenagers who hung out together every weekend going laser tagging, paint ball, bowling, youth camp, etc. I speak for everyone in our group when I say we all hated this book. We were a group of 18 boys and girls who were all great friends. Only a few of us dated since everyone else seemed like a bigger extension of family since we all grew up together since we were 1 or 5 years old and we all watched out for each other. For prom, we all went as a big group and partied and had a blast AND to top it off, no one had sex. GASPS!!!! After dancing, we all went bowling and then went to the theaters in our tuxes and dresses and had a great time, eating popcorn and those really expensive theater drinks.
When the book told us we shouldn't talk to the opposite sex we all laughed and said, "well if this is true we're all going to hell." I thought 99.99% of what he said was ridiculous. The only thing we agreed on was saving sex after marriage, everything else in the book was dumb.
The author clearly had issues while writing it. It seemed like the author was so girl crazy he had to write a book to help himself through a tough time. It was like the lustful pope who had to chisel all the penises off all the Greek and Roman statues because rock genitalia caused him to be aroused and therefore that made everyone else feel the same way as well.
I don't recommend this book because it gives Christians a bad name and it also isn't realistic, even for a Christian. It isn't wrong to have friends of the opposite sex, just don't do anything stupid or anything you'll regret. Think with your brain and not your reproductive organ, and save your V card for your spouse. Why? Watch 16 and Pregnant. ...more
Wow! What a great book! It was a bit wordy, but overall a great read. I particularly enjoyed how the stories of the wise men were explored more than jWow! What a great book! It was a bit wordy, but overall a great read. I particularly enjoyed how the stories of the wise men were explored more than just what was mentioned in the Bible. Wallace weaved their story into the plot and I really enjoyed the character of Balthazar.
Wallace did a great job painting the character of Judah Ben Hur. I felt his love, his hate, his passion, and his sorrow. Besides the literary character Peter Pan, Judah is probably another favorite literary character of mine. I love his heart and his passion. Something that any reader can aspire toward.
The revenge plot is very interesting. Like the Count of Monte Cristo, Judah was betrayed. I couldn't wait for him to destroy Messala in the chariot race. Little prick had it coming!
I totally recommend this book! Beside the lengthiness/wordiness of it, I really enjoyed it. ...more
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